unofficial microsoft.public.money FAQ and A
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How to do things in Money: Downloaded transaction data

Q) When I download account data, my scheduled transfer from Checking to [Visa] gets duplicated in the respective accounts. Why?

A) The secret is to make sure the first one you download is set as a Transfer:[name of second acct] and the second one you download is flagged as a match for the other half of the transfer created out of the first one downloaded.

Now that you've got them, you probably have to do something like void the second one downloaded and not turned into a transfer.

I say "probably" because I really don't know--I skip all of this downloaded transaction data stuff and all of these headaches that come as part of the set.

Cal Learner--MVP, who does download transactions, offered up this:

There is more than one good way to download your credit card data and have also the payment downloaded from a checking account. Here are three ways I like:

1. When you process the first transaction of the credit card payment, set the category as a Transfer to the other (credit card or bank account), or use the equivalent SPECIAL "Credit Card Payment" category. When you process the second transaction, Money should match it. Be careful to not just Accept if Money did not find the match on its own for some reason. Click Change and match it to the transfer you already made if Money did not match it for you. I would consider this the classic of the ways I like. Note that for this you would not use the Money 2005 EXPENSE category "Credit Card Payments/Transfer". Instead you should consider deleting that EXPENSE "Credit Card Payments/Transfer" to avoid confusion. See also "We had Transfer and Credit Card Payment in M04. What's with Credit Card Payments/Transfer added in M05?"

2. In method 2, don't handle credit card payments as transfers or the pre-defined "Credit Card Payment". Instead create one category of "CC payment" or some such. If you define the category as an expense category, expect a warning when you use it to represent the payment within the credit card account -- if you have the warning enabled. Just click Yes in response to the warning. The category should net at zero in reports across accounts, and you can still customize to ignore the category if you like. (This is Bonnie Synhorst's favorite method.) For this method you could use the M05 "Credit Card Payments/Transfer".

3. Create a suspense account. I have one I call In Transit, and I called it a "cash or other" account. Change each of the downloaded transactions into transfer to/from that account. That account will normally have a zero balance except while funds are in transit. Make your credit card payments as transfers to and from that account.

Please see this disclaimer if you are using Money 2005 or this comment if you are using Money 2006.

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